About this recipe

Give me Biriyani any time of the day and I can have a good go at it. Today's dish is also a sumptuous and easy to prepare Biriyani.
Moving away from the traditional way of preparing a Biriyani, this dish is elegant yet simple to cook up at the same time. This take on the traditional Kerala Biriyani is a wonderful casserole of tender lamb cooked in Kerala spices which is minced and combined with a spicy and tangy green coriander and mint chutney. This dish is truly company worthy! Serve along with pappads, pickles and a cool raita on the side. Do try this today!

Ghee/ oil (I always use a mixture of both for any kind of biriyani or pulav)

Ingredients For The Rice

2 cups Basmati or jeera/ jeerakasamba/ jeerakasala rice

4 cups Vegetable or chicken stock or water (stock adds a lot of flavor) [refer notes]

2 pods Cardamom, crushed

1 to 2 Cloves

1 Cinnamon stick (small piece)

Salt, to taste

Ghee/ oil

Ingredients For Coriander-Mint Chutney

1 bunch Fresh coriander (big bunch), coarsely chopped

1 bunch Fresh mint (small bunch), leaves picked and coarsely chopped

1/2 to 3/4 cup Grated coconut

1/2 teaspoon Cumin seeds

1/2 Big onion, coarsely chopped

1/2 inch Ginger piece

3 to 4 cloves Garlic (small cloves)

1/2 Lemon, juice squeezed out

1 to 2 Green chilies (add more if you like it spicy)

A pinch of sugar

Salt, to taste

Ingredients For Garnish

1 to 2 Hard boiled eggs

1 Big onion, sliced fine

12 to 15 Cashew

12 to 15 Raisins

Ghee/ oil

How to cook Layered Minced Meat And Coriander-mint Chutney Biriyani

To Cook The Meat

In a hot pan, dry roast the fennel seeds, cinnamon stick, cloves and star anise till a nice aroma comes through. (Make sure not to burn it) Cool a little and grind to a fine powder.

Into a pressure cooker, add the meat (mutton/ lamb/ beef) and marinate it with the ground ingredients and the rest of the ingredients listed under 'Ingredients To Cook The Meat'. Keep aside for 15 minutes. (optional)

Add a little water if necessary (Adding water depends whether your meat really needs it. Nevertheless, do not add too much. Allow the meat to cook in it's juices) and cover with the lid and pressure cook till meat is completely cooked.

Don't worry if there is any residual gravy after cooking the meat; we will need it for the rest of the dish.

Preparation Of Minced Meat

Strain the cooked meat through a strainer or sieve. Press out all the liquid/ gravy or stock from the cooked meat. You will have a nice clear spicy stock. Keep aside. Once the meat has cooled, mince or grind the meat in a food processor. Keep aside.

Heat ghee/ oil in a wok, and saute sliced onions till it turns light brown. Add the ginger and garlic paste at this time and saute till raw smell goes away. Now add the sliced tomatoes and mix well till it softens.

Now, add the stock to the rice. (Vegetable or chicken or any meat stock will work well. You can use water in place of stock too but please note that the flavor of the dish is enhanced because of the use of stock) Stir well.

Add enough salt and mix well. Cover the pressure cooker with it's lid (do not put on the cooker weight) and cook till a high steam appears. Then turn the heat to a gentle sim and continue to cook the rice for exactly 5 minutes.

Switch off and leave it to cook on the residual heat (on the stove) for exactly 30 minutes.

[NOTE: Please feel free to use any method of your choice for cooking the rice]

Once the rice is done, open the pressure cooker, and fluff the rice with a fork to separate the grains. Keep aside.

Preparation Of Coriander-Mint Chutney

Grind all the ingredients listed under 'Ingredients For Coriander-Mint Chutney' without water. Grind to a smooth chutney. Keep aside.

Preparation Of Garnish

Prepare the hard boiled eggs, peel and keep aside.

Fry the onion, cashew and raisins in ghee/ oil. Keep aside.

Layering The Biriyani

Preheat the oven to 150 degree Celsius.

Grease a baking dish (I used a large glass Pyrex baking dish) with a little ghee.

Spread a layer of minced meat as the bottom layer.

Over it, add a layer of rice as the second layer.

Now, add the prepared coriander-mint chutney on top of the rice as the third layer.

Repeat layers till all the prepared ingredients are used up. Finish the layering of biriyani with rice. The topmost layer should be the cooked rice.

Add a few drops of ghee over the rice. Cover the dish with a damp cloth and bake it for 25 minutes at 150 degree Celsius.

Once done, remove the cloth and garnish with fried onion, raisins and cashew.